Long-term forecasting of thermal and humidity actions on buildings

Abstract

Global warming leads to significant long-term changes in climate loads and effects on structures, which must be considered when designing buildings. In this study, loads on buildings and structures were examined to evaluate long-term changes in temperature and humidity of the atmospheric air and to develop a method for forecasting the estimated values of these effects. According to the data obtained via weather stations in Ukraine, it was determined that long-term changes in thermal and humidity actions at different weather stations are qualitatively similar but vary numerically by a significant extent. The increase in air temperature is generally consistent with the known trend of global warming, and relative humidity is characterized by a decrease in the variance at almost constant average annual value. The proposed method of identifying and describing trends in long-term changes in climatic influences can be used in the development of regulatory documents and in directly designing buildings and structures by considering the predicted changes in climatic influences during the future life of buildings.